Eu queria estar lá

The orchestra began, suddenly, in a way that resembled star formation—dense clouds of melody floating in suspension and then, under piccolo flurries and timpani rolls, fusing into one. A sax line emerged, neon with yearning, and Jepsen came out to sing “Run Away with Me,” unprotected by reverb and curling her voice tight around the notes. She glittered in her peculiar, brilliant, half vacant way. Jepsen is, for a pop star, a remarkably unassuming presence—she always seems like a conduit for something, rather than the thing itself—and though she managed the evening’s performance appropriately, like a diva, with a gown change and Streisand gestures, it seemed to me as if she could’ve been singing in front of her bedroom mirror, or in a dream. It just so happened that she was in front of a full symphony orchestra, facing a crowd of people who would eventually jump to their feet and sing along and dance like they, too, were alone in their rooms. The orchestra was heartbreaking, restrained by the simplicity of the songwriting and yet inherently hyperbolic. The violins took up the moments where, normally, on her albums, you’d hear Jepsen ad-libbing with interjections. Instead of a “Hey!” their bows would strike, like an epiphany, a burst of sweetness outside the realm of words.